NBC averaged 462,000 viewers for English-language televised EPL matches last season, up 1% from 457,000 in 2019-20 and its highest figure since 2015-16. That is by far the highest European domestic league viewership in the U.S., driven partly by NBC’s studio shows and promotion.

Peacock, which launched its live sports coverage in June, is likely to get only a fraction of the audience for its matches.

NBC originally aired additional matches on cable overflow channels, available at no additional cost to those already receiving NBCSN on cable. It shifted them behind a pay wall to NBC Sports Gold for the 2017-18 season, and last year they cost $39.99 for a Premier League MatchDay Pass that gave access to 140 live matches or $64.99 for the Premier League Pass that included replays and additional programming.

Those matches shifted to Peacock for this season.

“I think whenever you have someone to pay more money, we suspect it’s probably not going to reach the same amount of people as a NBC broadcast,” Cordella said. “As the media world continues to evolve, I think every media company is trying to figure out how do we change our mix up from just broadcast and pay TV and include a direct-to-consumer service, and NBC Universal is no different.”

ESPN takes over the Bundesliga this season after five seasons on Fox, which averaged 57,500 for 187 telecasts on FS1 and FS2 last season before the disruption of the novel coronavirus. ESPN plans to televise only four-to-eight Bundesliga matches on its networks this season, mainly to drive awareness, with the overwhelming majority streaming on ESPN+.